‘We can spot things early’: Islington barbers join initiative to improve mental health of young Black men

Barbers Mitch Fly and Ivelaw King are signed up to the project. Photograph: Julia Gregory

“You build up respect between a barber and a client. It’s about loyalty, respect and trust,” said barber Mitch Fly, who is trained to spot signs that young Black customers might need support with their mental wellbeing.

Fly said barbers are trusted to listen to people’s concerns and respect their privacy and can see clients through the bad and good times that life throws at people.

He is one of the five across Islington who have been trained to signpost support as part of a £1.6m scheme to improve the mental health of young Black men and boost their opportunities.

Fly, from Fade Fabric Barbers in Dalston, said hairdressers are used to listening to their clients and are unshockable.

“Barbers shops are a safe space to be. We cut hair so much we hear so much. There’s nothing we’ve not heard.”

He added: “We can spot certain things early.”

His fellow mental health ambassador Ivelaw King, who is based at KRL on the borders of Islington and Hackney, said: “We see children who become adults and go through high school, college, university. You see a lad growing up and you are helping them. It’s a great feeling.”

He explained that barbers build up relationships with their clients and can help support them and steer youngsters at risk of going off the rails away from problems.

“You have to be talking to them about the right direction,” he explained.

The barbers are part of a three-year programme launched by Islington Council and funded by government’s violence reduction unit and NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board’s Inequalities Fund.

It aims to overcome the systemic discrimination, racism and stigma that can blight the lives of young Black men and boys.

Black men are 17 times as likely to be disgnosed with a serious mental illness and four times more likely to be sectioned than their white counterparts.

Nationally, Black boys are four times more likely to be excluded from school and Islington Council wants to tackle these inequalities.

Black boys at Beacon High, Central Foundation and Islington Arts and Media School will also get support through the ‘Becoming a man’ initiative. A counsellor will be based full-time at each of the schools to run five sessions a week helping students with their long term mental wellbeing, as well as taking individual sessions with pupils.

Young people aged 16 to 25 who are at risk of poor health, violence and exclusion from school will get help.

There’s also training available for people working in the police, healthcare, social care and schools to challenge inequalities and racism.

Nineteen-year-old actor Richard Sigobodhla appeared in a film the council made about the pressures facing young Black men, and he said the stigma surrounding mental health can be a barrier to ask for help.

“It’s not wanting to give power to the people you are talking to.”

He said the pandemic has changed things with more people opening up about mental health, and that social media can also play a part in eradicating the fear that it shows weakness to talk about problems.

“Barbers shops getting involved helps too,” he added.

Councillor Jason Jackson, who came up with the idea of getting barbers involved, said: “I want to see a change in my community.”

He added: “Talking about young Black men and mental health is not something that I do not understand myself. I get it. It’s a struggle.”

He said it is important to tackle inequalities and work towards “the day where we do not have to have any specific programmes so there is full equality across mental health and understanding the diverse community”.

Cllr Jackson said some young Black men “feel lost” and struggle with issues around identity, which can be “embedded internally in a community that does not want to talk about mental health”.

He added: “A key part of what we want is talking, so young people feel comfortable about talking.”

He hopes it will reassure young men that there are safe spaces to talk about issues bothering them, such as anxiety or imposter syndrome.